EXJW Online Support Team

Monthly Archives: January 2017

I was on my way to a business meeting and was looking for a bag to carry my computer and just happened to run across my old field service bag. Oh, what memories I found in that bag! It is amazing how far we have come in our lives since leaving the organization. This video provides a quick synopsis of what I discovered in the bag and some of the articles that was used in the brainwashing techniques to make us think we had to continuously go out in field service.

Date of Broadcast: 1/31/17 (Length- 20:41)

New Headline: The Watchtower Society Says: Remembering Watch Tower 20 Years Later

Cathy Thomas aka Lady Cee travels back down memory lane from when she was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. She was searching for a book bag in the closet to use for a business meeting and stumbles across her old Watchtower field service bag. During this video she talks about the contents in the bag bringing back many forgotten memories. and discovers some old literature and material that she used when going door-to-door.

In the past, she prided herself on having the most up-to date and exclusive Watchtower materials. These materials lead her to remember the strength of the Jehovah’s Witness indoctrination process.

The following are some of the things Lady Cee remembers:

The Theocratic School and Service Meeting is one of the most powerful indoctrinating meetings.

When going door-to-door, Jehovah’s Witnesses jotted down detailed notes about the householder to breed an air of familiarity when making return visits. This was supposed to impress the family with the keen detail the Witness remembered about them upon their return.

Back in the day, prior to JW.ORG, Jehovah’s Witnesses offered subscriptions to the Watchtower and Awake Magazines that were actually delivered to your mailbox.

The “Our Kingdom Ministry” similar to an internal newsletter is where Jehovah’s Witnesses received their instruction on how to go about their door-to-door proselytizing. The topics in these publications had catchy titles with lots of imagery in the articles to make their messages stick in follower’s minds.

06:15- 12:59

As Lady Cee and JT were fading (slowing distancing themselves from the organization) it was difficult to stop going to events because the pull of the organization’s messages were so strong.

Fading was also difficult because their entire support system was linked to the Jehovah’s Witness religion. Lady Cee and JT faded during the 1990s and a lack of information online, social media and virtual support groups for ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses made their experience especially isolating compared to today.

The indoctrination stressed blind obedience and pressured members into structuring their lives around the Kingdom Hall and the Kingdom Hall’s exhaustive obligations. The time sacrificed does not give members the space to think about and process of what they were being told.

Every moment of their lives used to revolve around their religion.

Lady Cee feels freer spiritually and personally, because she can set her own agenda, instead of having the Watchtower set her agenda.

13:00- 21:41

The Watchtower always used God’s name, Jehovah for legitimacy.

People aren’t encouraged to speak about their goals, education, or their careers because the Watchtower Society makes their members feel guilty by trying to interject the notion that they are not pleasing to Jehovah by doing so.

This created a culture where the members of the group only felt talking about the Watchtower Society or were so inclined to gossip about each other.

Lady Cee stresses that the Internet is incredibly helpful for people leaving the organization to find communities to support and nurture them.

When many members fade, it is common for them to have little to no contact with their former brothers and sisters at the Kingdom Hall; who only show up occasionally to ask them if they put in their time or want to know when they are coming back to the meetings.

Sadly, Lady Cee speaks about an experience she heard from one sister that stated that one of the elders visited her mother on her sickbed and during the visit he asked her if she had any field service time to report from the prior month.

In this video Debbie Roberts explains her ordeal in the Jehovah’s Witness religion and how she was treated by the elders in her congregation when she was being abused by her husband. Only to later discover that her husband had been molesting their son.

Debbie along with countless other Jehovah’s Witness women have been used as Watchtower pawns to remain silent about their abuse. To avoid bringing negative publicity to the organization, these women remained silent as their abusers continued to inflict pain in their lives and to the detriment of their safety and health.

Debbie lived in fear and in hiding because her husband threatened to kill her after she left him. However, now that he is no longer a threat, she felt confident to come out and tell her story.

Leesa is from a small town in Australia, she’s a third generation born-in Jehovah’s Witness and had an intergenerational tradition of obeying the child abuse policies dictated from the governing body in the USA regardless of what Australian law or common decency might require. In this podcast, she speaks with JT about how she broke her silence and is now working in conjunction with the Australian Royal Commission to bring about justice against pedophiles in her country.

How can the congregation express its joy when an announcement is made that someone has been reinstated?

In Luke chapter 15, we find Jesus’ powerful illustration about a man who had a flock of 100 sheep. When one of the sheep was missing, the man left the 99 behind in the wilderness and went after the lost sheep ‘until he found it.’ Jesus continued: “When he has found it, he puts it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he gets home, he calls his friends and his neighbors together, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’” In conclusion, Jesus said: “I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous ones who have no need of repentance.”—Luke 15:4-7.

The context shows that Jesus spoke these words in order to correct the thinking of the scribes and the Pharisees, who criticized him for associating with tax collectors and sinners. (Luke 15:1-3) Jesus pointed out that there is joy in heaven when a sinner has come to repentance. We ask, ‘Since there is joy in heaven, should there not also be joy on earth when a sinner has repented, turned around, and made straight paths for his feet?’—Heb. 12:13.

When someone is reinstated in the congregation, we have good reason to rejoice. The person will have to keep on maintaining his integrity to God, but he had to be repentant in order to be reinstated, and we are glad that he repented. Accordingly, there may well be spontaneous, dignified applause when the elders make an announcement of a reinstatement.

In this video, we will critically examine the teaching of Jehovah’s Witnesses that only 144,000 people will go to heaven. According to the Watchtower, there has only been the Heavenly Calling for anyone who became a Christian from the 1st century up till the 19thcentury. This would mean that Jesus Christ had less than 144,000 […]

The Jehovah’s Witness faith has a long history in discouraging its members from having children. Why? Because they believe the end of the world is near and their time can be better spent in what they term “full-time ministry” which entails preaching and converting people to the Jehovah’s Witness religion. There are countless Watchtower publications […] […]

When one of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses is spotted at a liquor store located some 23 miles from Bethel, an unknown person captures it all on footage. It’s amazing when you think about the amount of liquor he’s purchasing. Imagine if a local brother in the congregation was caught purchasing the same amount […]

Higher Education has been discouraged by Jehovah’s Witnesses from its very beginning in the 19th century. Even before this group came to be officially known as JW in 1931, their founder Charles Taze Russell was advocating that even finishing High School had little value and a waste of time. Despite living in the technological 21st […]

How many times has a Jehovah’s Witness gone door-to-door offering the Watchtower and Awake! Magazines and boldly proclaiming that they offer free home Bible studies. It’s way too many times to count. They often brag about not paying tithes to the organization and are quick to point the finger and judge parishioners belonging to other […]

In this podcast, special correspondent, Mark Martin continues with JT and Daniel in their discussion on Blood Fractions and Blood Transfusions. Blood is living tissue. Its not digested and consumed by the body such as food and alcohol. You are transplanting living tissue. The Watchtower, as usual, uses a false analogy that is totally debunked […]

March is Women’s History Month and this video is dedicated to all of the ladies in the JW and EXJW communities. Women: Brilliant Minds, but why Second? This podcast features a variety of women from around the world providing their own perspective on what it was like being a female in the Jehovah’s Witness community. […]

Malawi Vs. Mexico Jehovah’s Witnesses are proud to tell others that they live by the same teachings all over the world. Yet, after leaving the religion and doing our research, we discovered that this is certainly not the case. We can recall hearing about the brothers and sisters in Malawi when the Watchtower, Bible & […]

According to JW.org, the circuit overseers were formerly known as Circuit Servants; Servants to the Brethren; Zone Servants; Regional Servants; Regional Service Directors; Pilgrims; Tower Tract Society Representatives. Yet, they used to have men in place known as district overseers, but they no longer exist within the organization. This title was done away w […]